Derry siblings claim five medals at London Bjj All Stars Competition

A pair of Derry siblings carried home a haul of five medals from the London Bjj All Stars Competition.

Tyainon and Aurora Cartin won four golds and one bronze between them at the competition over the weekend of March 23.

Aurora collected a gold in the no gi division and was unlucky in the gi winning a fight and  then one losing fight leaving her in third place.

While her older sibling Tyainon achieved a clean sweep of gold (three) winning all divisions, gi and no gi in his own divisions Teen 3 before stepping up into juvenile blue belt division also taking gold and the overall belt.

Their mother, Amanda Harkin, could not hold back her pride, she said: “They have done quite well, they always do quite well anyway.

“They are always testing themselves, they would at times compete at higher weight brackets and belt colours to challenge themselves to get that extra work and push themselves.”

The pair have had a successful career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to this point having been crowned elite world champions, Irish Open champions, and have even become the first Irish athletes to be sponsored by the Australian brand Continuous Flow BJJ, according to their parents.

Success is always a great positive, however both Tyainon and Aurora believe the sport has had a much more important impact on their lives.

Tyainon said: “I started because I used to be very shy when I was younger, and it has brought the confidence out of me as I would be quite confident and outgoing now,I have made plenty of friends through it and it pushes the idea of hard work on people and I think that is great.”

Aurora added: “When I was younger I used to sit in the club and watch him train and from seeing him do it, it made me want to give it a go too. Similar to what he said about confidence it is great but for a girl it is an important skill to learn for self defence.”

The teenage pair fight out of Team Torres in Derry, with the family owing a lot of their success to coach Martin McLaughlin and the club.

Amanda said: “We can’t thank Martin enough like, not only him but also all their teammates and coaches there as they invest a lot of time into our kids. They train seven days a week and it is paying off. Martin treats them like his own two.

“He is a perfectionist, right away after Aurora’s defeat he was looking at where she lost and planning on how she can improve ahead of her next competition.”

The pair will next be in action over the summer as they travel to America competing in the Elite Worlds and then Pan Kids IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship.